


Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 3 A Glimpse at the Rings of Darillium

by Stardance1



Series: Under the Moons of Darillium: A Night of Adventures [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi, Post Darillium, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Singing Towers of Darillium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 20:29:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16025429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardance1/pseuds/Stardance1
Summary: Darillium's moon Ijen is technically off world, or is it? Can two time travelers take a day trip to the stars, without impacting the fate of their long night on Darillium?





	Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 3 A Glimpse at the Rings of Darillium

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is Part 3 of a Series.

Outside the Tardis, the sands of Darillium quaked slightly on the ground, as though they trembled with the excitement of pregnant anticipation. Out of the East, a whistle of cold wind furled and unfurled whisps of sand along the dunes, and slowly multiplied them across the desert. In the sky, fluffy white clouds began to form, like the seeds of crystal dandelions.  
Inside the Tardis, in their bed, River and the Doctor slept.  
In her sleep, River shivered slightly, as though sensing the cold wind outdoors, and the Doctor stirred.  
He picked up his head slightly, inhaled deeply, and smiled.  
Then he gently shook his wife’s shoulder.  
"River, wake up... you’re making that face again."  
“Mmm, what face? I was asleep!” River yawed and tried to snuggle back into the Doctor’s warm chest.  
“Well,” the Doctor said holding her shoulders firmly, "I’m sure that it was the he's hot when he’s clever face."  
"I’ve told you Doctor, this is my normal face!” River tried harder to go back to sleep.  
Instead the Doctor whispered loudly in her ear.  
"Were you dreaming about me again, Professor River Song?"  
Now River did make a face.  
She opened one eye and looked up at the Doctor, as he looked down on her. He was wide awake and grinning.  
"I hate you.” she responded, throughly exasperated.  
“You don’t!” the Doctor replied smugly.  
“Alright I don’t, I love you and I’m going back to sleep so that I can keep dreaming of you!”  
“Thank you for your honesty."  
River swatted his chest playfully  
“… but you’re not going back to sleep.”  
Now River was awake. She sat up and leaned over the Doctor.  
“What naughty things do you have in mind?”  
The Doctor laughed. “Sadly, they involve you wearing a lot more clothes…. Come on.”  
The Doctor jumped out of bed and began to get dressed.  
“Alright Doctor, but you owe me a raincheck on that wake up.”  
He paused for a moment and smiled at her.  
“Deal!”  
___________________________ 

Not 15 minutes later, the Tardis doors swung open, and the Doctor and River emerged. They had coats on and warm cups of tea in their hands.  
Again River shivered, and the Doctor wrapped his arm around her shoulders.  
“Doctor,” River said, “the clouds are beautiful, they’re like crystalized brush strokes in the sky!”  
“But that’s not why you’re here River.”  
“No?” she looked up at him as he smiled mischievously at her. His arm fell to her waist, and he led her about 25 feet from the Tardis. He looked up, turned her around, and then leaned down and whispered in her ear.  
“Wait for it.”  
“Doctor?”  
“Trust me."  
She was about to respond, when suddenly there in front of her eyes, River saw what the Doctor wanted her to see: a single, perfect, fluffy bit of snow lace drifting down toward her. It was the first snowflake of the Darillium night, and River gasped as it fell right onto her nose.  
The Doctor laughed and turned her around.  
“Just like a celestial bop Doctor Song.” And with that, he placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose.  
“I know just how the sky feels.” he said leaning closer to whisper in her ear.  
River just stood there stunned. “That might be the singular most magical thing I’ve ever seen Doctor, and for me, that’s saying something.”  
He grinned at her. “You’re welcome…. and you only know the half of it River!”  
She smiled at him, “What now Doctor?”  
“Happy Hogmanay!”  
River’s eyes opened wider. “It’s New Year’s Eve?”  
“I knew it River! Even with that new Diary, you haven’t been keeping track of our time since Christmas!” the giddy Doctor laughed, “And now I can surprise you!”  
River stepped on her tippy toes and kissed the Doctor on the lips. “You always surprise me, dear.” she said shaking her head slightly.  
_________________ 

The Doctor had expanded the protective shell beyond the Tardis, and like an enclosed porch, River and the Doctor sat warmly on a blanket in the sand and enjoyed an outdoor breakfast picnic in the snow.  
They had cooked breakfast together, slowly, savoring the fun of the holiday. River had prepared poached eggs over tattie scones, and the Doctor had made them rowies. They sat, drinking tea and spreading an assortment of jams on the soft buttery rowies, as they watched the snow fall gently around the Tardis.  
“Isn’t it lovely River,” the Doctor asked, sipping the last of his tea.  
“It’s perfect.” River responded, watching him over her own cup.  
The Doctor laid down and rested his head on River’s lap while she drank her tea. She ran her fingers through the soft curl of his hair and he looked up at the sky.  
“I hope there will be stars when I die River.” the Doctor said wistfully.  
River looked down at him in alarm, “You aren’t going anywhere, my love.”  
He met her eyes and smiled. “No, I just meant, I’m always a bit sad when I can’t see the stars…. I do wish to see them until my dying breath, especially then actually, to have peace.”  
“Some bits of the sky are peeking through the clouds,” River says, pointing at the horizon, “Look there, a beautiful moon.”  
“That’s the closest moon to Darillium, River. It completes orbit every 13 hours or so. It’s named Ijen, and it has its own atmosphere, and some beautiful volcanos.”  
Suddenly River stood up. The Doctors head fell unceremoniously onto the blanket with a slight thud.  
“Doctor, let’s go up there and visit. You want to see the stars, we can go for a nice walk in its atmosphere, and we won’t really be leaving Darillium’s night, we’ll be in the night sky and return before the 6 and half hours are over, just having moved in space."  
The Doctor sat up slowly, and then smiled broadly at his adventurous wife. “You’re right River, we can go up in the Tardis, have a nice New Year's Eve date, and be back in time for the New Year! No one will even miss us!”  
“Seriously... I thought you’d fight me on that.” River said.  
The Doctor shrugged, already standing to fold up their picnic blanket. “I figure you’re going to win anyway, might as well enjoy the day and avoid the row.”  
“I always said you were the wisest man I knew, Doctor!” River threw her arms around his neck and brought his head down for a proper Hogmanay kiss. 

____________ 

On board the Tardis, the lights of the central console lit up and chuffed along happily. River and the Doctor entered their coordinates for the Darillium moon and then together pulled the lever to get them moving in space.  
They materialized on the Ijen moon, and once having fully landed, the Doctor snapped his fingers, swinging the Tardis doors wide open. He then grabbed River’s hand and broke into a slight run, “Let’s go, Professor River Song, you bad bad girl, let’s run!”  
Outdoors, they ran together under the dark cloudless Ijen sky. From Darillium, the Ijen moon looked like a translucent marble, that shimmered ever so slightly with shades of blue and green. But now on land, the moon looked much more vibrant and alive. The ground was like gravel mixed with sand, the sky was tinged with a greenish yellow haze, and hundreds of peaks and craters dotted the landscape.  
In front of River and the Doctor, a large still blue lake sat a few kilometers down, and huge streams of steam were cast off from its side.  
In the sky, they could focus on the vastness of the dark side of Darillium. They could observe the patches of snow clouds drifting across the dark planet, and even make out the tiny lights adorning all of the structures in the Darillium night.  
“I think I can see the Towers in the distance, River,” the Doctor said, pointing at Darillium.  
“You know, all those twinkle lights do look a bit more like stars from up here, Doctor,” River said, but then she pulled the Doctor’s hand and motioned in the other direction, beyond Darillium. “Look,” she said with a lusty sigh, “the stars!”  
The Doctor gazed at her first, smiling at her excitement, but then did turn to look up at the stars. He squeezed River’s hand in acknowledgement.  
They sat down on the ground and for a solid hour, they just sat there together, basking in the celestial wonder, River with her head on his shoulder, and the Doctor resting his head on hers, both watching the sky. The stars twinkled, galaxies collided, the universe expanded, and lazy comets passed in the distance.  
"Doesn’t this remind you of our first date River," the Doctor said, "to Calderon Beta to look at the stars"?  
"I’m not sure that I accurately remember any of those stars Doctor", River teased, "except the ones in my eyes from the sudden emergency use of respiratory bypass... As I recall, your kisses that night were insatiable!"  
The Doctor leaned closer. "Well it was our honeymoon,” he reminded her.  
"A honeymoon we’ve relived several times on that same night," River smiled in memory. “Honestly Doctor, sometimes I’ve wondered if anyone else is on that planet but past and future versions of ourselves!"  
"You’re right River, perhaps we should have actually looked at the stars more.”  
“Absolutely not” River said as she leaned over and kissed him so deeply and so long that he needed to revert to his respiratory bypass for a moment. River leaned back, satisfied she’d made her point.  
The Doctor bopped her nose and they both grinned.  
They stood up and dusted off their clothes…  
“Shall we walk to the lake?” the Doctor suggested.  
“Let’s.” River replied, looping her arm through the Doctor’s.  
They chatted as they walked.  
“Darillium looks so beautiful from here Doctor,” River said, pointing at the sky. "When will we be able to see its rings from land?", River asked.  
“Oh, probably not for about 18 or so years, I should think," the Doctor said thoughtlessly.  
River stopped walking for a moment. She had so wanted to see them in the sky, but now she truly hated them. The rings would signify to her that their night was almost over.  
The Doctor had continued talking and walking along, “Even when we see them, they won’t be complete, we’ll only see the very outer rims because the rest will remain in the shadow of Darillium.”  
The Doctor finally noticed that River had not budged. He turned, saw her stricken face, and didn’t know how to comfort her.  
He kissed her forehead, mussed her hair a bit, and when she finally smiled in her eyes, he nodded at her slightly and continued their walk to the lake.  
"Of the 27 moons of Darillium, 12 have atmospheres. Most of the atmospheres are too thin to hold enough oxygen for us to breathe, however 3 moons, including the one closest to the planet, have atmospheres thick enough to have water, clouds, weather, even seasons. Ijen is also one of the largest moons.” the Doctor explained.  
“What kind of weather Doctor?” River inquired, “I haven’t felt any wind, nor have I seen evidence of rain or snow or a season…”  
“Well, each of the moons with atmosphere vary, but Ijen is most famous for lightning I believe, which may intermittently strike that very lake that we are walking to.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes, well, not all of it, just near the volcanic peaks. There are routine volcanic eruptions on the entire moon, but this volcanic range by the lake is the most famous. With each eruption it releases primordial gasses, allowing the moon to maintain an atmosphere, the steam that you see there rising from the lake, plus the ash from the rock and the natural radioactive elements emerging from the volcano’s depths, create this…”  
And as though to enhance the Doctor’s argument, bright veins of white lighting lit up the sky.  
“You’re lucky you’re so hot when you’re clever.”  
“I did warn you,” the Doctor winked at her.  
More lightning helped to illuminate the sky and River could finally make out the oozing lava that burned along side the volcano, just beyond the lake.  
She gasped. “Doctor, it’s blue!”  
“Oh, did I fail to mention that, yes, the lava is sulfurous. It’s blue, and….”  
River interjected excitedly, “it BURNS blue”.  
“Yes", the Doctor smiled at his wife and kissed the top of her head affectionally. “The flames that burn from it are indeed blue.”  
The Doctor and River watch the lighting brighten the sky and the blue lava slowly fall from the mouth of the volcano. The blue of the lava was electric, and the fire leapt hungrily up from it.  
The Doctor and River were admiring it, each reminiscing privately about their date to the Planet of the Rain Gods, when suddenly a low deep rumble in the ground shook them both off balance until they fell.  
“Well that wasn’t good,” observed River.  
But the Doctor was already up and running, he climbed up to a smaller peak with River following not too far behind. They climbed higher so that they could look over, around the base of the Volcano, to see what was happening on the other side.  
The Doctor hushed River and they both crouched unseen.  
There below were about 50 men, carrying buckets of the blue flaming lava away.  
“It’s like a fireball parade, Doctor.” River whispered  
“Only more nefarious River, … Look!”  
He pointed to a large device at the base of the volcano. It was grey and boxy and almost looked like the Apollo Lunar Module, clunky with lights and switches.  
Even now, the light phaser on the Module shifted and flashed bright red. A shockwave hits the Doctor and River, knocking them both down again.  
The Doctor scans the Module device with his Sonic screwdriver and listens.  
Simultaneously, River is also typing on her computer, pressing the device right up to the side of the rock face.  
“Doctor, there’s a huge amount of Sonic energy here, in all my years, I’ve never seen a reading like this!” she whispered loudly.  
“That Module River, it’s a Sonic drill of some sort, whoever these volcanic miners are, they are trying to steal valuable minerals from this moon’s core. Unfortunately their patience has run out and the Sonic Drill is meant to speed up the eruptions!”  
At that moment another sonic shockwave hit them, and rocks tumbled down the sides of the Volcano.  
“Doctor, from my calculations, if they keep pushing the drill at this level, this moon will break into pieces and destroy Darillium below!”  
The Doctor looked her right in the eyes, “In approximately 26 years Professor Song.”  
They both immediately understood the meaning.  
If they stopped the miners, they’d have to destroy the Sonic Drill; they’d need to destroy the atmosphere and the volcano’s eruptions so that the miner's wouldn’t readily return to pilfer more sulfur thereby putting all Darillium colonists at risk…. but not necessarily River and the Doctor… the explosion would happen after their time on the planet.  
Bright blue sulfuric lava oozed down toward where the Doctor and River were standing, the Sonic Drill continuing with intermittent bursts of energy.  
The Doctor said what River already knew, “If we destroy the atmosphere they won’t be able to continue mining. I can reverse the polarity of the Sonic Drill, causing the core of this moon to cool. The air will simply leak away…and with the explosion and radioactivity, in all likelihood, you and I wouldn’t be able to return any time soon…”  
She met his eyes, they’d be loosing this place yes but… “and we’d be saving all life below, Doctor.”  
She grabbed his hand.  
The Doctor replied, “River, we can’t go further away from the planet, it’s too risky. This moon was the closest, there won’t be others…”  
“I understand Doctor,” she responded.  
“We can wait,” the Doctor said, momentarily wavering by the lightning glow that shone off of her curls, “we can wait and fix it right before we leave in 24 years…”  
River shook her head. “It’s too great of a risk Doctor. We can’t leave it as is, we choose what’s right….  
without promise, without reward, we chose what’s right.”  
She squeezed his hand, “River, the stars….” He looks out at the sky… “we missed the stars."  
River laughs….  
“Do you know what I miss? Sometimes I miss waking up next to you on that tiny dirty bed in Stormcage. Sometimes I miss family outings we’d have with my parents, Amy walking around the Tardis in her bathrobe, Rory finding us for the dozenth time in the jacuzzi….”  
The Doctor blushed.  
"You’ve given up so much for me already River: Your regenerations, your freedom, any semblance of a normal life."  
"Oh Doctor, we don’t do normal, it’s so terribly boring, you know that…. You, I would have missed. If it were the stars or you, I’d pick you every time. It isn’t the time travel or the Tardis that make you special Doctor. It’s just who you are. Anywhere in time and space, it’d be you.”  
He nods in understanding, in agreement…  
"One last look?” he asks.  
"One last look,” she agrees.  
They watch the night sky, wait for a falling star to shoot across in the distance, and both of them make the same silent wish they already know won’t be answered, they run down the side of the volcano toward the Sonic Drill, holding hands.  
The Doctor blasts the Sonic Drill with his screwdriver. Sparks fly off the metal.  
“Ready!” he says to River…  
“Wait, what do you say now instead of Geronimo?” River inquires.  
"I don’t have a catchphrase, but if you kiss me when I pull the switch, I’ll still say Yowzah…"  
River kisses him. And they both shout Yowzah as they flip the lever to high on the Sonic Drill. Waves of energy pierce the ground and reverberate to the sky. Alarms of all sorts begin to sound at the worker encampment below.  
The Sonic Drill shakes then stops, falling over like a tin can.  
“A bit anticlimactic,” the Doctor said with a shrug. But not a second later the Drill exploded, shaking the ground and creating an avalanche of loose rocks down the volcano and surrounding mountains.  
After they were sure all of the miners had escaped, River and the Doctor rush back to the Tardis, before the last drops of atmosphere drain away.  
___________________  
Onboard the Tardis, a very very dusty River and the Doctor collapse into each others arms laughing.  
“Now your hair is totally gray!” River whoops tousling the Doctor’s hair and getting a cloud of ash.  
“Yours is too as a matter of fact River.” He leans in to kiss her but River pushes him away. He raises his eyebrows perplexed.  
“Go and change, and we’ll meet back here…”  
The Doctor swats her bottom and walks past to bathe and change.  
River stops for a moment at the Tardis console, and enters new coordinates. She smiles as she flips the lever, and goes to shower and dress, while the Tardis happily churns along.  
A few moments after the Doctor has returned to the console room, River enters as well. She is in deep red velvet jumpsuit, sleeveless with a low V neck.  
“I’d like a dance with you Doctor,” River said sweetly, walking up so close to him that their bodies were a hairsbreadth away. "We have some time before we have to get back Doctor, and I want a dance underneath the stars.”  
“It’s not safe River, we should leave Ijen and return to Darillium.”  
“But we’re not on Ijen Doctor,” River responded innocently, with a smile.  
The Doctor strides over and looks at the console monitors, and then as though not quite believing, he throws open the doors of the Tardis and looks outside.  
River has parked the Tardis just between Ijen and Darillium, in space, near the earliest point in the night of the planet, so that flashes of light are visible, bouncing off the distant Rings of Darillium. And the surrounding space is lit like a magical net of stars.  
River has extended the air shell outside of the Tardis and she brings a thick silken rope to wrap around herself and the Doctor, hooking the loop to the main console railing.  
River holds out her hand to him.  
"No no I don’t dance…” the Doctor nervously said. River gives him a look and presses her body closer. He quickly concedes. “Although, I believe Doctor Song, you once said that I always dance at weddings…"  
"You didn’t dance at ours.” River amended softly  
"So I guess I owe you ONE…” the Doctor held River’s hand and gently pulled her out of the Tardis with him.  
They float there, in the darkness of space, in each others arms.  
The Doctor starts to twirl around the rope, spinning River with him. He is ecstatic.  
“River!" He shouts, "look at me, I’m amazing!”  
She laughs because he is and she’s right by his side, twirling and summersaulting. He takes her by the hand and extends her arm and dances a little waltz with her.  
"How is it," he whisperers to her, "that you always know the right thing?”  
She smiles at him and whispers in his ear. “Years of practice being right I suppose Doctor….” her eyes twinkle at him and she continues…"I’ll always know Doctor. As long as I’m by your side, you have nothing to worry about.”  
She rests her head on his chest while they float and dance. He stiffens for a moment, constantly tormented that she will not always be by his side. They’ve stopped time for each other, they’ve travelled the universe together, they are man and wife, and he doesn’t know how to survive without her, or how to stop time from advancing.  
"Come on, we’re ready for an indoor trial.” he says, pulling himself in by the rope and then pulling her in as well.  
Just like the first time he pulled her through this door, when she escaped from the Byzantium, she falls on top of him.  
"Here we go." she says, her eyes deepening in color, feeling the evidence of why he brought her indoors.  
“Oh?” the Doctor's amused eyebrows comically furled.  
They both stand up.  
River pulls out her screwdriver and aiming it at the console, turns on the gentle strumming beat of the Spanish guitar. It is a tango rhythm.  
"The thing is Doctor, these clothes are just so restricting.”  
She takes her jumpsuit off, unzipping the back and watching it fall to the floor. She is left in undergarments of simple red lace. "I believe red is good luck for the new year, Doctor?” she grins at him. But the Doctor can’t hear anything above the sound of his own hearts beating wildly.  
He walks into her arms and they dance  
He dips her with such force that both of her legs actually come off the ground.  
"You’re breaking the rules,” River chides gently, helplessly, as he dips her onto his bended knee and River gasps at a sudden jolt that travels through her body.  
The doctor pulls her up to him achingly slowly, and the pressure builds inside of River.  
“River, I could kiss you!" he whispers to her neck.  
River moans softly. "But you can Doctor, I’m yours." she answers back in a whisper.  
He makes a move as though to kiss her, but instead dips her again and raises her leg over his shoulder.  
He brushes it seductively with his fingers, tracing her muscle all the way down to her thigh.  
He places her leg down and tightly holds her in a slow rhythmic sway.  
River raises her leg off the ground and hooks it around the Doctor’s leg, sliding her foot up his calf.  
He strides backward, toward a wall of the console room, dragging her other leg gently behind, across the floor. Once his back nears the wall, he turns, pressing River's back into the wall, and the junction of her thighs suddenly meets the bulging ridge of his arousal. No material in the universe could be dense enough to prevent the electric current of their touch.  
The Doctor relinquishes the little control he’d been exerting over his passion. He hastily unfastens his trousers and raises River up over his hardened staff, tearing her clothing off. River’s feet are both still off the floor, she’s completely balanced exclusively on the Doctor’s full length, his leg, which her leg is still halfway wrapped around, and her arms which she has moved to grip his shoulders.  
The Doctor is breathing raggedly. “River,” he moans, almost apologetically, "I can’t stop."  
"I know!" she shouts, more loudly than is necessary to be heard over the music, "don’t stop!….. All systems go, Doctor!”  
The Doctor holds her hips as he thrusts into her, meeting the beat of the tango music still playing in the background.  
River is holding herself up by his shoulders, her hair slightly cushioning her head from the wall, but the curls haphazardly spring everywhere, wildly defying gravity, enchanting the Doctor as he thrusts into her and watches her face.  
River suddenly can’t take it any more. The Doctor has literally taken her to the summit of her breaking point and there is no other place but down.  
She releases the Doctor’s shoulders, lets her body surrender fully to the twisting rope inside of her about to rupture.  
She lets herself trust, relax, and sink down, letting the Doctor fully sheath himself within her, having him penetrate all the way up to her soul.  
She screams his name and she raises her arms helplessly against the wall in surrender, as the Doctor suckles at her breast.  
He climaxes within her and she holds his head close to her breast, willing that they never move from here again.  
As the tremors pass through their bodies and surpass, he whispers something that would shake her core even further.  
"River,... I could marry you", he whispers it against her breast, and she can feel his lips as the words form, feel his breath on her skin.  
"But I’m already your wife," she whispers back.  
He chuckles softly.  
“River, I could marry you again," he responds, raising his head so that she could see the sincerity in his eyes…  
"Doctor …"  
She lets go of his head, and there, with her two feet still off the ground, the Doctor and River still joined together, still man and wife, he takes her hand and slips a ring on it.  
She gasps.  
“No matter your answer Wife, if you’ll have me again or not, I want you to have this River", the Doctor said…  
“I had it made from a piece of green amber that I picked up from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. It is the twin to my ring that I’ve carried for you. To me, it has reminded me of the battles that I’ve won and lost and the responsibility that I carry for those that believe in me. But River, I share that with you: the victories, the losses, the joy and the sorrow, it’s our life together as husband and wife. Wear it with me…… will you… say yes?”  
“No.” River says, her eyes still transfixed by the ring on her finger. “I will say... always and completely.”  
And the Doctor kisses her again.  
_____________________ 

When they get back to Darillium, River orders a special take-away meal from a nearby restaurant.  
A tall, handsome, dark haired man delivers it.  
"Our fistfoot!” River exclaims, and drags the man in for a glass of Aldebaran brandy.  
The Doctor is half jealous and almost brusquely rushes the man out as soon as he’s done with his glass.  
He closes the doors to the Tardis with a bit of a slam, and when he turns around, River is standing there holding wrapped presents.  
River, of course, had prepared for the holiday. She hadn’t forgotten Hogmanay at all. She smiles slyly at the Doctor and presents him with his gifts.  
He unwraps the first slowly, putting the ribbon on River Song’s head, making her laugh. He opens the box and gasps in delight. River has bought him a darts board for the Tardis, so that they can play together. There’s also a gift card for a local book store.  
“There is plenty of time to read here…” River says.  
“It’s perfect, I love books and we can go and read in the shop together,” the Doctor replies, turning the card over to read the details of the shop.  
“You know Doctor,” River continued, "I think there’s a whole planet of books somewhere out there, a library, maybe we’ll go there one day…”  
The Doctor looked at her sharply, then distracts her with his lips. “Let’s find a planet of beds first, River.”  
She laughs again and swats his arm, but she stays in his arms.  
“You know Doctor, Rita Hayward taught you the Cha Cha, I taught you the Rumba, but you Doctor, you definitely taught me the Tango.”  
“I rather did, didn’t I,” he said eyes twinkling.  
River swats him again.  
“Let’s hang the darts board!” he says, and River follows him around like she’s minding an excitable puppy.  
Together, they play round after round of darts, most of which River wins, they laugh and share stories of past holidays in London and Leadworth and Scotland, with her parents and family.  
“They always set a place for us River, at their table, even if they didn’t know if we would make it.”  
“I know Doctor.”  
River smiled sadly, remembering them, but then looked up and said, “Let’s remember them happily. They’re together, and so are we…"  
River fills a large glass of brandy, moves closer to the Doctor, raising the glass to his lips to sip.  
As he does, she hums a little, then starts singing….  
“We two have run about the slopes and picked the daisies fine,  
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, since auld lang syne."  
The Doctor grins broadly at her, his River, taking the glass from her hands and setting it down. He holds her protectively in his arms, and together they continued.  
"For auld lang syne, my dear  
for auld lang syne,  
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,  
for auld lang syne…." 

And together they sit in the Tardis, sipping brandy, laughing, and singing auld lang syne. 

_______ 

Hours later, River opens her eyes sleepily. Her head was on her pillow facing her sleeping, affianced, husband whose own head was on his pillow. A smile tugs at her lips. A wave of peace …happiness… fills her with warmth like a tumbler full of brandy in her belly. She stretches her legs out towards the Doctor, entangling them with his. She reaches out and runs the back of her fingers across his jaw, then softly places her hand on his cheek like a kiss. In his sleep he smiles.  
"Happy New Year,” she whispers to herself, to the Doctor, to the Tardis, and to their home for now: Darillium. She thinks about cashing in her raincheck from earlier, but decides that that can wait another hour or so. She pulls the Doctor closer with her legs, snuggles deeply into his arms, and sleeps peacefully next to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Look for more Doctor and River Song stories, every week! Next week: Part 4 - A Visit From Madame Kovarian!


End file.
